On Thursday the Maine Department of Education released a draft framework to assist schools in planning for return to school scenarios in the fall. The framework was developed with input from multiple stakeholder groups, including the Department of Education’s Student Cabinet, community health experts and educators representing the many roles in schools.

Penobscot County voters will not be asked in November to approve funding for a new jail as officials consider whether operational changes imposed by the COVID-19 outbreak will become permanent. It could be November 2021 before the measure appears on the ballot.

In addition to her role as SAD 4 Superintendent, Kelly MacFadyen may be returning to the Greenville-based Union 60 but in a different capacity than before. SAD 4 officials are considering a potential service agreement between the district and Union 60 for superintendent services and other functions in the 2020-21 academic year.

While Major League Baseball and its players’ union squabble over how to salvage their 2020 season in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, a Piscataquis County bat maker is continuing to expand his footprint in the sport. Construction is under way at Dove Tail Bats on a multipurpose building that will include an indoor batting cage and full gym and workout area. The six-week building project is expected to be completed by mid-July.

But the RSU 68 superintendent of schools was more than willing to relive that experience along with the teachers and staff at the SeDoMoCha School, who toured the district Wednesday, June 10 morning to see their students in person for the first time in nearly three months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new waste plant in Hampden has had to temporarily close this month as it struggles to pay its expenses and faces a new lawsuit from a contractor that alleges it’s owed at least $1.2 million for staffing and running the facility. 

Among the honorees is Ethan Chadwick of Abbot, who is studying precision machining technology at Northern Maine Community College in Presque Isle. Chadwick is a 2019 graduate of Piscataquis Community High School.

U.S. District Court Judge John Woodcock denied a temporary restraining order requested by Joseph Denbow and Sean Ragsdale, two inmates at the Mountain View Correctional Facility in Charleston, that would have required the Maine Department of Corrections to review the cases of all medically vulnerable inmates and release them to give them the ability to social distance during the pandemic.

While Naisbitt was startled to find the fawn lying so close to a well-traveled trail, her experience wasn’t that unusual. In Maine, people often stumble upon baby wildlife, especially in the spring and early summer. As a result, the Maine Warden Service and state biologists field a multitude of phone calls about wild animals that people worry have been abandoned or orphaned this time of year. And their message is always the same: If you care, leave it there. 

After closing its facilities on March 17 due to safety concerns and Gov. Janet Mills’ stay-at-home order surrounding the spread of COVID-19, the Piscataquis Regional YMCA will reopen on June 12. The reopening will be conducted under the guidance of state and local health authorities and will take place in phases.

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, this year the Dover-Foxcroft annual town meeting process will consist solely of a vote at the polls on Tuesday, July 14. In years past decisions on the municipal budget have been made with an in-person town meeting in the gymnasium at the Morton Avenue Municipal Building, with items approved that day then moved to referendum for final approval.

The Guilford factory that produces the nasal swabs that are sorely needed to control the coronavirus pandemic had to stall its production of the swabs all Friday, June 5 ahead of a visit by President Donald Trump, then throw away the swabs that were made during his tour, according to a report by USA Today.

An area Grange member who has been dedicated to the organization at the local and state levels, served the region in the Maine Legislature and in local government and has given back to the community in many other ways was honored by Piscataquis Pomona -- the local Grange district -- on June 4. Jim Annis of Dover-Foxcroft received the Piscataquis Pomona Award for Public Service as part of the monthly Piscataquis Pomona gathering held at the Valley Grange.

While restaurants, shops and lodging establishments are already feeling the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, another sector of the tourism economy in Maine is bracing for a rocky summer. Normally, communities located along the famous Appalachian Trail welcome thousands of long-distance hikers every summer, offering shelter and supplies to those endeavoring to complete the famous 2,190-mile trail. But this year, everything has changed.

“We just don’t know yet what the fall will bring, we need to be ready for remote learning or some kind of in-person learning if at all possible,” Superintendent Michael Wright said during a June 3 meeting conducted via Zoom. The Maine Department of Education is planning to release protocols for Maine districts prior to the start of classes around the state at the end of the summer.

Tom Coon, a dyed-in-the-wool outdoorsman from Medway, reveled in canoeing, fishing, fiddleheading and the quarter century he spent as a ranger on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. And when the 63-year-old died May 31 of complications from COVID-19 at Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, it was in a hospital room with a view of the Penobscot River down below. 

President Donald Trump spent only a few hours in Maine on Friday, but the visit told us a lot about how he views it in the national political landscape and in light of the biggest issues facing his presidency.

The anticipation that built all week in this quiet manufacturing town quickly dissipated Friday afternoon, June 5 after President Donald Trump’s motorcade passed through downtown, where hundreds of supporters and protesters lined up throughout the day.